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Investigating the Effect of Modified Cellulosic Fibers on Barrier and Functional Properties for Sustainable Packaging, TAPPICon24

Decarbonizing the Energy-Intensive Drying of Cellulosics:Exploring Bound-Water Removal through Computer Simulations, TAPPICon24

Aerostatically sealed non-contact paperboard porosity measurement, TAPPICon24

The Power of Charges: Exploring Electrification Opportunities for Decarbonizing the Pulp and Paper Industry, TAPPICon24

Editorial: Fundamental understanding enables new coating opportunities, TAPPI Journal January 2025

TAPPI's Coating, Printing, and Surface Enhancement (CPSE) Division pursues open exchange of technical information related to materials, equipment, and processes for the manufacture, quality control, and use of coated papers, paperboard, and other substrates. Much of this technical information is presented at sponsored conferences, including TAPPICon and the Advanced Coating Symposium. Based on feedback from these events, TAPPI Journal peer reviews the research from these events that adds significant value to the scientific community. In last year's November issue, we presented five peer-reviewed manuscripts based on presentations given at TAPPICon 2024.

The influence of precoating layers on the performance of water-based barrier coatings, TAPPI Journal January 2025

Cellulose nanofibrils (CNF) on paper have been demonstrated to be an effective barrier against oxygen and grease and have been shown to improve the barrier performance of dispersion-based barrier coatings. The potential to produce paper grades that have good oxygen, grease, and moisture barrier properties is clear, but a better understanding of the synergies between CNF, other coating layers, and water-based barrier coatings (WBBC) is needed to optimize these systems. Different coat weights of a commercial WBBC were applied to papers that have a range of different qualities and thicknesses of CNF precoating layers. The same WBBC was also applied to pigmented coated paper, with various types of pigments and latex levels. Samples were characterized in terms of grease resistance, water vapor transmission rate (WVTR), and oxygen transmission rate (OTR) before and after folding. The results were contrasted to cases where the WBBC was applied to the paper with no precoating layer. When the WBBC is applied on a CNF layer or the pigmented coating layer, the performance of the WBBC for the water vapor barrier improves a significant amount compared to when the WBBC is applied to the base paper with no precoating layer. This improvement likely comes from these precoating layers filling in the large paper pores, which leads to the WBBC forming a continuous layer at low coat weights. Folding decreases the moisture barrier performance to some degree, but the grease resistance is not influenced by folding when a CNF precoating layer is involved. Oxygen barrier properties are moderate for the CNF layer alone and are less than 5 cm3/m2/day when WBBC is coated on the CNF layer. This result likely comes from the barrier coating’s ability to repair defects in the CNF layer to stop the easy passage of oxygen in defect regions of the sample.

TAPPI Journal Summaries, Paper360º January/February 2025

Unlocking the Potential of Microfibrillated Cellulose for High-Barrier Sustainable Packaging Films,TAPPICon24

From Nature to Nutrient: Exploring Multifunctional Bio-Based

Dynamic compression characteristics of fiber-reinforced shoe press belts, TAPPI Journal April 2025

ABSTRACT: Shoe press belts contribute significantly to the overall dewatering performance in the press section of a paper machine. Within the shoe press nip, the press belt faces a dynamic and multidimensional load that mainly leads to a compression of the structure. As this will cause a loss in void volume, knowledge of the dynamic compression characteristics of shoe press belts is crucial for optimized dewatering. A novel method was developed to examine the dynamic compression characteristics of grooved polyurethane press belts. Therefore, an experimental setup allowing realistic boundary conditions to test specimens was placed in a servo-hydraulic testing machine. Press belt specimens with different matrix material formulations and groove patterns were tested under varying load rates equivalent to different paper machine operational speeds. The results showed an evident sensitivity of the dynamic compression stiffness to the operational speed of the paper machine. This behavior was seen to be more sensitive to changes in the matrix material formulation than to adaptions of the groove pattern. As a result, the compression of the press belt within a shoe press nip is not only influenced by the peak pressure within the shoe press nip but also depends on the operational speed of the paper machine.